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Historical Sketch 



OF 



HAMPTON, N. H. 



FOR 250 YEARS, 



638-1888. 



AND OF THE 



Congregational Church 



N Hampton. N. H. 



HAVERHILL, MASS., 
C, C. MORSE & SON, 
I90L 



Sermon dccl. 
History of Congregational Church in Hampton. 

Deut. XXXli: 7. 
" Remember the days of old, consider the years of many genera- 
tions; ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thine elders, and thev will tell 
thee." 

Our thoughtsUoday go back two hundred and fift}^ 
years, when, on that lovely September day, the little 
company sailed up yon winding river, and saw com- 
petency," if not w^ealth, in the grass of the vast marshes 
rustling in the autumnal breeze and flashing in the 
golden light of the setting sun. Over these marshes 
the Indian chased the srame. The smoke of the wie- 
warn w^ent up on the clear air from amid the pines. 
Fish rose in the stream to the splash of the oar. Birds, 
dreading no more-4,destructive weapon than the infre- 
quent arrow, on careless wing rose from beside the 
streams and skimmed the marshes and rested in the 
pine-tops. The waves sung their hoarse song, of which 
the ear never tires, • along yon beautiful beach; and 
Boar's Head pushed her front into the sea, "shouldering 
the tide away," and defying the Atlantic's fiercest 
storms. More than two hundred and fifty years after 
Whittier sang: — 

Now rest we, where this grassy mound 

His feet hath set 

In the great waters, which have bound 

His granite ancles greenly round 

With long and tangled moss, and weeds with cool spray wet." 

This description was apt two hundred and fifty 
years before. It was well described in the old records a 
fair and goodly land, and it still is. What a pity father 
Bachiler had the musical and significant Indian name 
Wirinicunett, " The Beautiful Place of Pines," changed 
for the non-significant name Hampton! 



2 

Stephen Bachiler, the leader of this Httle band of 
stout men, was himself a kingly- man, though the blood 
of Tudor or Stuart did not flow in his veins. He stood 
erect, like one of the pines of Winnicunett, though 
carrying the weight of seventy-seven years. When 
seventy years old he crossed the Atlantic, and on the 
third day after his arrival at Boston had a church 
organized at Lynn. With characteristic energy and 
independence, waiting no man's time and asking no 
man's permission, without council or installation, he 
organized the church, and went to work. One of his 
first ministerial duties was to baptise four infants. Put- 
ting aside the one first presented he passed to his own 
grandson with the words, " I will baptise my own child 
first." That's father Bachiler. His restless energy and 
contempt of authority, and may be other causes, (for he 
was not a perfect man) soon got him into trouble. 
From Lynn he went to Ipswich. In the unusually cold 
winter of 1637, he, in his seventy-sixth year, with a few 
companions travelled through the snow on foot one 
hundred miles to what is now Yarmouth. We next 
find him at Newbury, where land was granted him. 
And on the sixth of September, 1638, the General Court 
of Massachusetts granted him permission to settle at 
Winnicunett. His frequent migrations do not remind 
me of Noah's dove seeking rest for the sole of her foot. 
There was not much of the dove about father Bachiler. 
His wanderings suggest the flight of the imperial eagle 
on kingly wing sweeping over forest and hill and plain, 
till he find fit home and resting place beside the great 
sea. 

At this early period so closely interlinked were 
ecclesiastical and political affairs that it is difficult to 
separate the history of the church from that of the 
town. The religious assembly and the town meeting 
were held in the same building. These sturdy settlers 



3 
of the-marsh and the forest were even then disposed to 
recognize no king but God. 

In September of 1638 the fifty-six original settlers 
laid' out the township of Winnicunett, and organized, or 
may be continued the organization of, the oldest church 
in New Hampshire with Stephen Bachiler as pastor. 
The name seems to have been changed to Hampton on 
June 6, 1639. I should like to give here a paper prob- 
ably written by father Bachiler; but it is too long. 
Instead I will give a short extract from Johnson's 
Wonder-Working Providence: — After stating that 
Hampton had her foundation stone " scituate not farre 
from the famous River of Merrimack," and that " the 
great store of salt marsh did intice the people to set 
down their habitations there, having about four hundred 
and fifty head of cattle," the writer proceeds, " and for 
the form of the town it is like a Flower de luce, two 
streets of houses wheeling off from the main body 
thereof; the land is fertile, but filled with swamps and 
some store of rocks, the people are about sixty families; 
being gathered in Church covenant, they called to office 
the reverend, grave and gracious Mr. Dalton, having 
also for some little space of time the more ancient Mr. 
Bachiler to preach unto them also." 

Thus the church is planted in the wilderness. But 
a place is needed in which to meet for worship. Before 
their own homes were finished the little log meeting- 
house went up on the Ring, near where Mr. Holmes 
now lives. And the bell must have summoned the 
worshippers; for at the second town meeting of which 
we have any record, "on the 22nd of the 9th mo., 1639," 
we find this vote: — " Wm. Sanborne (with his consent) 
is appointed to ring the Bell before the meetings (on 
the Lord's dayes and other dayes); for which he is to 
have 6d. per lott of every one having a lott within the 
Towne." How strange the sound of the bell, startling 



4 
the echoes amid the pine woods, and rolling across the 
marshes! How sweet the sound to the early settlers in 
the wilderness! Memories of home were in it. It re- 
called the green lanes of old England, and th^ ivy- 
covered churches, where many of them had plighted 
their marriage vows, and some had left their dead. But 
we hear no word of repining from these brave men and 
true women. And a worthier home for the worship of 
their God must be built. In a town meeting of the 
following year it was voted, That Richard Knight build 
a "meeting-house frame 40 foot long, & 22 foot wide, 
with ye studdes 13 foot high (betv^^een joynte) 8 or 9 
inches broad, & 18 inches only betwixt studd & studd 
with girt windows & a place for the Bell (now given by 
ye reverend pastor) 5 or 6 beams; 5 or 6 pair of prin- 
cipal rafters, & the rest answerable, to be payed, the one 
halfe in money or work by the tyme the frame is up, 
and the other halfe in money or beasts (at reasonable 
prices) within one yeare after." At a town meeting one 
year after this," agreement is made to defray the charge 
of ye meeting-house by voluntary gifte." And although 
not completed in 1644, it must have been occupied in 
1640; for we read then of the porch being used as a 
watch-house. It was a plain building, without chimney 
or stove, at first without galleries, with a pulpit, and may 
be a pew for the minister; with unenclosed seats, probably 
without backs, where the men and women sat apart, and 
the young people sat by themselves, and the services of 
the tything man were needed to keep them in order. 
The prayers and sermons were long. But the people 
met to worship. They believed in a God who was ever 
with them, and ordered all the events of their lives. 
With fervor they sang from Dunster's Psalms. De- 
voutly they stood through the long prayer. With 
patience, if not always with profit, they listened to the 
always doctrinal, but not always practical, sermon; and 



5 
during the week discussed its teachings in the field and 
by the fireside. We will not look too closely into the 
causes of the fierce quarrel between father Bachiler and 
his colleague, teacher Dalton. They were both men of 
high temper and stubborn will. Father Bachiler was 
deposed and excommunicated, left Hampton in 1647, 
married a third wife when eighty-nine years old, and re- 
turned to England in 1650, where he married again, his 
third wife being still living. The chronicler quaintly 
adds, " How much longer he lived, and how many more 
wives he married, is unknown." He died at Hackney, 
near London, in his hundredth year. 

Thus ended the long and wandering life of Hamp- 
ton's first pastor,-- a man not always easy to get along 
with, somewhat arbitrary and imperious; but withal a 
man of large brain and large heart; a born leader of men; 
always taking on himself the heavier burden, and claim- 
ing the foremost place where danger was; and by his 
virtues and unselfishness making many steadfast friends. 
Prince quaintly says, -He was "a man of fame in his 
day, a gentleman of learning and ingenuity, and wrote a 
fine and curious hand." The author of Wonder-Work- 
ing Providence is not so complimentary: 

" Through ocean large Christ brought thee for to feede 
His wandering flock, with words thou oft has taught; 

Then teach thyself e with others, thou hast need; 
Thy flowing fame unto low ebbe is brought. 

Faith and obedience Christ full neare hath joined; 

Then trust on Christ, and thou again must be 
Brought on the race though now far cast behind, 

Run to the end, and crowned thou shalt be." 

W^ith father Bachiler was associated as teacher 
Timothy Dalton, one of the original settlers. After 
father Bachiler's departure, he seems to have had a fairly 
quiet and prosperous ministry. The meeting-house was 
completed during his ministry. He had a farm of 300 
acres, and for some years at least a salary of forty 



6 
pounds. After 1652 he seems to have received no 
salary, and, probably owing to failing health, performed 
no pastoral or ministerial work, although retaining the 
title and (I think) the official authority until his death, 
December 28, 166 1. Rather singular duties were ex- 
pected of ministers in those days. At different times he 
was chosen with two others "to sett the bonds between 
Hampton and Colchester" (now Salisbury); with five 
others "to go and view the highway towards Colchester;" 
and "on a committee to confer about a ferri-place." 
Teacher Dalton was a more consistent man than his first 
colleague; but I think not so able a man, nor so un- 
selfish. He seemed to know how to look out for him- 
self, and acquired considerable property. Still we find 
him relinquishing four years' salary, which the town 
owed him; and his famous Deed, from which came the 
ministerial fund, was partly gift. "He conveyed by this 
Deed to the church and town of Hampton for the use of 
the ministry forever, certain portions of his land for the 
sum of 200 pounds sterling." Johnson in his Wonder- 
Working Providence calls him "the reverend, grave and 
o-racious Mr. Dalton;" and gives him a glowing poetic 
eulogy, which is too long to quote in full. He was an 
able theologian, strictly orthodox, and somewhat intol- 
erant. He had a keen eye for Quakers and witches, 
although not directly concerned in the persecution of 
Eunice Cole. Johnson sings of him: 

" Age crownes thy head, in righteousness proceed 

To batter down, root up and quite destroy 
All Heresies and Errors that draw back 
Unto perdition, and Christ's folks annoy." 
What is mortal of him rests in yonder cemetery. 
Peace be to his ashes. He laid a foundation stone in 
this venerable church. I would lay my tribute wreath 
on his tombstone, if I could only find it. Is it not 
somewhat to our shame that the tombstones of these 
fathers of the church and town are lieing neglected, and 



7 
hidden by the rank grass? 

But how did the strictly orthodox Dalton get along 
with his somewhat heretical colleague, John Wheel- 
wrig;ht? It seems to me that there must have been 
friction between men of such positive character as they 
both were, and so divergent in theological opinion. In 
those days men contended rather too earnestly for what 
they were pleased to call the faith once delivered to the 
saints. Of course THEY were " the saints." Wheel- 
wright was brother-in-law of the famous Mrs. Hutchin- 
son of Boston, and shared to some extent her views. If 
he did not, as she did, claim immediate revelation as 
the guide of his conduct, nor denounce in equally ex- 
travao'ant terms the mas^istrates and ministers; he had 
very little respect for authority, civil or ecclesiastical, 
and in his doctrine of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit 
came perilously near to fanaticism, and pushed his doc- 
trine of justification to the verge of antinomianism. 
When Mrs. Hutchinson was banished from the colony 
and went to Rhode Island, he withdrew to Exeter, and 
formed a settlement and church there. His claim to 
Winnicunett, founded on a grant from Indians, was 
rightfully disallowed by the General Court of Massa- 
chusetts. We next find him at Wells, in the province 
of Maine. The General Court having removed the 
sentence of disability on the acknowledgment of his 
errors, he was called to Hampton, then claimed by Mas- 
sachusetts. The call is a curiosity. I should like to 
give it in full, if I had time. The good people of 
Hampton were evidently somewhat afraid of his love of 
change or aptness to stir up strife. They frame the call 
with all the carefulness and minute particularity of a 
legal document. Mr. Wheelwright is offered free trans- 
portation from Wells to Hampton, 40 pounds per year, 
a house and house-lot, and " the farm that was Mr. 
Bachiler's." To raise the salary it was voted: — " Every 



8 
master of a familie shall paye 5 shillings to the some of 
40 pounds; & be more or lesse, according as the some 
or somes of the rates are; & all single-men, which goeth 
at ther owne hand, ore that taketh anye wages for them- 
selves, they shall likewise paye 5 shillings as aforesayd." 
" Then what remaineth shall be raised upon the estate 
of every person equally, according to that they do pos- 
gggse — be it in houses, land, cattle, boates, or otherwise; 
excepting only ther corne, which shall goe rate-free." 
A like salary was at the same time voted to teacher 
Dal ton. 

Mr. Wheelwright seems to have had a quiet and 
prosperous ministry here. May be he had learned wis- 
dom by experience. Permission was given by the town 
to certain persons to build a gallery in the west end of 
the meeting-house, to be held as their own property; 
and a substantial fence was erected about the cemetery. 
When Mr. Wheelright's orthodoxy was questioned by 
two leading ministers of the times, his church stood 
loyally by him, and petitioned the General Court in his 
behalf. It is a grand characteristic of this church to be 
loyal to its minister. It is safer disturbing a bee-hive 
than laying an unfriendly finger on the occupant of this 
pulpit. The rash man who attempts it, will have reason 
to wish he had never been born. And Mr. Wheelwright 
must have been a practical and profitable preacher. 
The following extract from one of his sermons is good 
preaching for the present time: — "Thirdly, let us have 
a care, that we do show ourselves holy in all manner of 
o-ood conversations, both in private and public; and in 
all our carriages and conversations, let us have a care to 
endeavor to be holy as the Lord is; let us not give 
occasion to those who are coming on, or manifestly 
opposite to the ways of grace, to suspect the way of 
o-race; let us carry ourselves, that they may be ashamed 
to blame us; let us deal uprightly with those with whom 



9 

we have occasion to deal, and liave a care to guide our 
families and to perform duties that belong to us; and 
let us have a care that we give not occasion to say that 
we are libertines or antinomians." The extract certainly 
justifies the eulogy of this church, — that "he was a 
sound, orthodox, and profitable minister of the gospel." 
It is not certain when he left Hampton. He was here 
in 1654, for in December of that year it was voted that 
10 pounds be added to his salary. This year is noted 
for the remarkable hail-storm. The storm was in June. 
In some places the hail lay twelve inches deep, " and 
was not all dissolved 2 days after the storme in many 
places, as we are informed by many eye-witnesses, and 
many of which haile were said to be 3 or 4 inches in 
length." I infer from the record of a town-meeting held 
December, 1656, that he was then about leaving, or that 
there was trouble between him and Mr. Dalton. But 
the vote is so ambiguously worded that no positive 
statement can be ventured on it. In 1658 he was in 
Ens^land, and hio'h in fa\or with Oliver Cromwell, who 
said that, when he and Wheelwright were fellow-students 
at Cambridge, he was more afraid of meeting him at 
football than he was afterwards of meeting an army in 
the field. He returned to this country, and died at 
Salisbury in 1679, between 80 and 90 years of age. 

Mr. Wheelwright's successor and Mr. Dalton's next 
colleague, Rev. Seaborn Cotton, so called because born 
at sea, inherited all the stiff Calvinism of his father, the 
famous John Cotton of Boston. There is a volume of 
his sermons in manuscript in the Massachusetts Histor- 
ical Library. How hollow a sound these old contro- 
versies now have! Then these creeds pulsed \\'ith life. 
To-day that valley is full of dry bones; and lo, they are 
very dry. After some delay Mr. Cotton was installed 
pastor in 1660 or thereabouts; two years after that un- 
seasonably cold weather that came on after the apple 



lO 

trees were in blossom, - the change in temperature so 
sudden, and the cold so severe that " in a fishing boat 
belonging to Hampton one man died before he could 
reach the shore, another was so chilled that he died in 
a few days, and a third lost his feet." His salary was 
fixed at sixty pounds. He had also a house given him, 
and a farm of 200 acres laid out at Hogpen Plain. The 
church must have had some prosperity; although there 
seems a decline of membership. In those days young 
people did not behave so well during services as they 
do now. At a town-meeting in 1663: — " Itt is ordered 
thatt two of the inhabitanc of the towne shall sitt in the 
gallery to keepe the youth in order in time of publick 
exercises to see that they keepe their plases & sitt 
orderly 8c inofensavely." At a town-meeting in June, 
1675, it was voted, — That all the inhabitants over 
twenty meet at the ringing of the bell to assist in raising 
the new meeting-house, and a fine of twelvepence in 
money is to be imposed on all who " faile of appearance." 
It was some years before the meeting-house was finished. 
In 1679 we find a vote for seating the people in the 
new meeting-house, so that it must have been 
then occupied. It 1680 it was voted that the old 
meetino^-house be taken down. The heathen, as 



'& 



our fathers termed the Indians, were now makinor 



t> 



trouble; for in 1689 "it was voted that all those which 
were willing to make a fortification about the Meeting 
House to Secure themselves and their families from the 
Violence of the Heathen they shall have free libertie to 
doe itt." Captain Samuel Sherburne was the first man 
to whom was granted liberty to build a pew for his 
family in the meeting-house; "provided," the record 
characteristically reads, " he builds it not so high as 
Mr. Cotton's seat is built." This was in 1687. The 
minister was then the great man. He was king in his 
Jerusalem. To him the boys took off their hats, and 



1 1 

the girls curtsied; and from his lips was received the 
law, as well as the gospel. Still I had rather live in the 
nineteenth century than in the seventeenth. I believe 
that now a minister, if he is devoted to his work, in- 
dustrious in his study, and frank with his people, will 
have as much influence as it is safe for any man to have. 
And two hundred years ago the sturdy freemen of 
Hampton knew when and how to put a check on their 
pastor. They shewed him great respect, and allowed 
him much influence; but, to quote the words of a writer 
of that time, they were very, " very tender and tenacious 
of their liberties." 

In these good old times manners must have been 
rather rude, when the town deemed it necessary to im- 
pose "a fine of 5 shillings on any one who should dis- 
chare:e a 2:un in the meetin""-house, or lead a horse into 
it." 

Eunice Cole, of whose exploits as a witch tradition 
has so much to say, was a sad trial to Mr, Cotton, who 
inherited all his father's abhorrence of witchcraft, and a 
continual vexation to the town. Miserable must have 
been her death, alone and unattended in her wretched 
hut on the Ring; and melancholy her funeral, her body 
hustled without religious service into a hole near by, 
with a stake driven through it, to which was attached a 
horse-shoe. 

About the same time the following shameful war- 
rant was directed to the constables of several towns, and 
executed in Hanrpton and other places: — ''You and 
every one are required, in the King's Majestie's name, 
to take those vagabond Quakers Anna Coleman, Mary 
Tompkins, and Anne Ambrose, and making them fast 
to the cart's tail and drawing the cart through your 
several towns, to whip them on their naked backs not 
exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them in each 
town; and so to convey them from Constable to Con- 



12 

stable till they are out of this jurisdiction, as you will 
answer at your peril; and this shall be your warrant." 

In the trouble with Gov. Cranfield, who seems to 
have been as badly damaged in principle as he was in 
fortune, Mr. Cotton does not appear as well as pastor 
Moody of Portsmouth. The latter bravely met the 
storm, and went to prison rather than forsake his post or 
deny his trust. When Cranfield sent the arbitrary mes- 
sage to Hampton that he should come and demand of 
Mr. Cotton to have the sacrament administered to him 
according to the liturgy of the Church of England, Mr. 
Cotton found it convenient to visit friends in Boston. 
But he, as was then too common, took it on himself to 
declare the judgments of Heaven. He denounced God's 
anger on the judges in the Moody trial, declaring of one 
of them, Henry Roby, that he would not have so honour- 
able burial as an ass. This was strangely fulfilled. 
Roby was of dissipated habits. " When dead, his body 
was taken, and thrown into a hole near the great rock in 
the rear of the old meeting-house sometime in the night." 
This was probably done to evade an iniquitous law of 
that time, which permitted the creditor to attach the 
body of the deceased debtor. There was also indirect- 
ness in Mr. Cotton's petition to the General Court for 
aid in getting the arrears of his salary. The General 
Court very properly left him to his legal remedy against 
the persons indebted to him. He had an efBcient helper 
in "good old John Dearborn," as he is styled in the 
record, one of the early deacons of this church, who died 
in 1 73 1, at the advanced age of eighty-nine. Mr. Cotton 
died pastor of this church, April 19, 1686, at the early 
age of fifty. He was the author of a Catechism not 
now extant, and is described in Mather's Magnalia as "a 
thorough scholar and able preacher." He certainly was 
a hard working minister, delivering well studied sermons 
on the Sabbath, calling the young people about him for 



frequent catechising, and visiting among the families of 
his flock. Also a doughty fighter of the Arminian 
heresy, and zealous for the truth as he understood it. 
If he did flee to Boston to escape imprisonment, he was 
no coward. If he did bend to the storm, he was not a 
reed shaken in the wind. Should the storm blow too 
fiercely, he would stand firm; and rather be uprooted 
and laid prostrate like one of the Hampton pines by the 
strong wind, than deny the faith. He left a list of the 
names of sixty-eight members of the church. 

His successor was his son, John Cotton. He was 
ordained pastor of the church November 19, 1696, ten 
years after the death of his father; but was acting pastor 
sometime before his ordination. In 1694 the town voted 
a salary to our present minister, Mr. John Cotton. The 
vote is somewhat of a curiosity. I give it as recorded. 
" The Town will give our present minister, Mr. John 
Cotton Eighty-five pounds a year for his paynes in the 
work of the Ministry amongst us to be payed every half 
year in Wheat five shillings pr bushell, Indian Corn 
three shillings pr bushell, Mault and Rye att four shil- 
lings pr bushell, pork at threepence pr pound, all 
marchble and good over and beside the contribution 
every c|uarter formerly agreed upon, and the use and 
benefit of the House land and Meadow that is appointed 
for the Ministry. And the Town to maintain the out- 
side fence of said land and Meadow, and besides what 
the Town shall see case to doe for him in Wood towards 
maintaining his fiers." Mr. Cotton is also to have ten 
cords of wood additional, if he will preach a monthly 
lecture. And there were several votes respecting the 
repairing of the parsonage fences. There are no regular 
church records of an earlier date than this. The church 
was in a sad state of spiritual decline when Mr. Cotton 
became its pastor. Only twenty-five members, ten male 
and fifteen female. During his pastorate of thirteen 



H 

years two hundred and twenty were added to the church. 
In 1698 fourteen were dismissed to join the church in 
Exeter. The congregation must have grown, as there 
was a demand for more seats in the meeting-house. Dis- 
cipline was enforced, and active measures taken to bring 
the young people to a sense of their covenant obliga- 
tions. In 1704 it was voted, — "That the Present 
Selectmen take care that all the Clay Walls in the 
Meeting House that are not ceiled shall be Smoothed 
over with Clay and Washed with White Lime & made 
Hansom," " to have the flore over the Beams of sd 
Meeting House covered with Bords, and these bords 
that are Seasoned Joynted 8c nayled Down." Even 
then they w^ould have things " hansom." A new bell 
was also purchased to replace the old one, which was 
" splitt." A parsonage was built. And the fortification 
was removed from the meeting-house. There seems to 
have been a general waking up. The life, that cometh 
down out of Heaven, was astir in this church. From 
these scattered farm-houses they crowded the roads that 
led to the Ring; and fervent prayers were answered; 
and discouraged, and almost despairing, souls were 
lightened; and eyes dim with watching again saw the 
salvation of the Lord. The able preacher and faithful 
pastor, may be worn out by overmuch work, died sud- 
denly, March 27, 1710, at the early age of fifty-two. His 
memory still lingers, like the fragrance of the faded rose 
that has been laid on the casket of the loved one. The 
descendants of some of those, whom he led to Christ, 
sit at o«r communion. During his ministry 320 were 
admitted to full communion, and there were about 975 
baptisms. 

His successor, Rev. Nathaniel Gookin, who had 
married his daughter, was ordained pastor November 
14, 1 7 10. At a town meeting held in April, 17 10, quite 
a number dissented from the vote to hire a minister for 



15 
the town for reasons whicli do not appear on the record. 
The prosperity of the church continued under the 
earnest labors of this excellent man. Although, besides 
the ordinary losses, in 171 1 forty-nine members were 
dismissed to form the church in Kingston, and in 1726 
twenty to join the new church in Rye; at his death the 
church numbered two hundred and fifty-three members. 
In I 71 2 the church had for communion purposes "three 
Pewter Flagons, i Pewter Tanker, i Pewter Bason, i 
Table Cloth, & 5 Napkins." A subscription was cir- 
culated, and with the money raised " was bought Eight 
Silver Beakers, which was committed to ye two deacons 
Dow & Dalton." We also find frequent assessments on 
members for Communion expenses. A new meeting- 
house w^as also built. It was voted that it be built on 
" ye meeting-house green as near ye present meeting- 
house as shall be judged convenient;" and that "it be 
built 60 feet in Length & 46 in width, and 27 feet in 
stude between joints, and yt a steeple or Turret be 
built to the house at one end thereof from ye beam up- 
ward of convenient and suitable bigness & heidth to said 
house, and that there shall be one pew in sd house, & 
that for the minister's family." By a subsequent vote 
these dimensions were slightly changed to make " it 
more proportionate and hansomer." The old meeting- 
house was to be sold for the benefit of Mr, Gookin. On 
October 18, 1719, the new meeting-house was occupied 
for the first time. To prevent confusion and unseemly 
dispute the town appointed a committee to assign seats 
in the meeting-house. New assignments were made 
whenever needed ; for there are frequent votes ordering 
such assignment. In the year 1729 were remarkable 
physical disturbances, terrible thunder-storms and an 
earthquake. The earthquake was almost anticipated 
in the first of Mr. Gookin's four sermons on " The day 
of trouble is at hand." Relicrion then was in a sad 



i6 

state. The earthquake shook up the people. There 
was a marked seriousness through the place, and many 
were added at successive communions to the church. 
Mr. Gookin in his graphic description of the earthquake 
writes, — " Many are now asking the way to Zion with 
their faces thitherward. They say. Come, let us join 
ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, not to be 
forgotten. Making a credible profession of faith and 
repentance, they draw nigh to the Lord's table, and ob- 
serve that (hitherto) too much neglected ordinance of 
his Supper. This is the happy effect, which, by the 
grace of God, the . earthquake has had upon some 
among us." Mr. Gookin died August 25, 1734, at the 
early age of forty-eight." " Learned, prudent, pious, 
and very much loved," a contemporary writer describes 
him, " excelling as preacher and divine." hi the town 
records there is a glowing eulogy on his character, but 
too long to quote. His tombstone tells us that "he 
was a judicious divine, a celebrated preacher, a most 
vigilant and faithful pastor, an ornament of learning and 
religion, and an excellent pattern of piety, charity and 
hospitality." He was certainly an able preacher and 
faithful pastor. With characteristic kindness the parish 
built for Mrs. Gookin's use a house and barn, voted her 
80 pounds per year during her life or widowhood, 15 
cords of wood yearly, and the keeping of three or four 
cows and a horse. In addition to this fifty pounds were 
o-iven her for immediate expenses. This church is 
noted for its kindness to its ministers. 

Mr. Ward Cotton was chosen to assist Mr. Gookin, 
who was in feeble health, and was ordained a few months 
previous to his death, June 19, 1734. The salary finally 
voted by the town was: — 100 pounds in paper money, 
and 20 pounds in provision ; after four years five pounds 
to be added annually till the salary amounted to 120 
pounds in money and 20 pounds in provision; the use 



17 
of the parsonage, hay and land sufficient to keep two or 
three cows and a horse, and the necessary fire-wood. 
The promised increase of salary seems to have been 
more than made good. In 1740 and subsequent years 
40 pounds were added to his salary " on account of the 
low value of paper money this year;" and in 1742 he 
received a special contribution for his " more than ordi- 
nary labours." There were also further additions made 
to his salary; and in 1742 it was voted to make his 
" sallary as good as it was when he Bargained with us 
being tryed by the Silver currency to stand for one 
yean" About this time were several votes ordering 
that more pews be built. It was also ordered that pews 
be sold to the highest bidders, and a maximum and 
minimum price was put on them. About 1737 and 
1739 members withdrew to form the church at North 
Hill (now North Hampton), apparently with some mis- 
understanding and lack of good will on the part of this 
church. It seems to have been a time of weeding out 
and spiritual growth. Frequent cases of discipline are 
recorded, and frequent additions to the church. At the 
communion in March, 1741, forty-one members were 
received, apparently the largest increase at any one time 
hitherto. During his ministry 437 members were added 
to the church, and there were about 1200 baptisms. In 
1738 we have the first record of a contribution for 
Home Missions. The meeting-house was repaired, and 
anew steeple built; four new flagons and four cups 
purchased for communion purposes; and other improve- 
ments made. One sad event happened then, the terrible 
throat distemper, which first appeared at Kingston, in 
May, 1735, and "ravaged from Pemaquid to Carolina." 
" The general description of it is a swelled throat, with 
white or ash-colored specks, an efflorescence on the skin, 
great debility of the whole system, and a strong tendency 
to putridity." Fifty-five children died of it in this par- 



ish ; in the second parish (Hampton Falls) where it was 
specially fatal, it carried away one-sixth of the inhab- 
itants within thirteen months. This was a time of much 
spiritual prosperity and readiness for the work. But a 
dark cloud gathered on the clear sky. The pastor be- 
came physically infirm; and, may be in consequence of 
this infirmity, lapsed into sad immorality. A council 
was called, and he was dismissed November 12, 1765. 
At a meeting held June, 1766, it is recorded, — "In 
consequence of Mr. Cotton's confession — Voted, to re- 
ceive Mr. Ward Cotton to the Charitable Communion 
of this Church as a Brother in Communion with us." 
But he did not again become its pastor. 

Before the next pastor was settled, on June 14, 
1776, deacon Joshua Lane was killed by lightning on 
his door-step. A more terrible storm now swept the 
whole country ; but the church kept on the even tenor 
of her way. You would not know from the church 
records that now the war for our National Independence 
was being waged. Rev. Ebenezer Thayer succeeded 
Mr. Cotton, and was ordained September 17, 1766. 
There was some opposition to his settlement. The 
church then consisted of two hundred and sixty-four 
members. It grew amid the storm. During Mr. 
Thayer's pastorate one hundred and two were added to 
the church. The meeting-house was renovated, new 
pews added, and seats made for the singers. A parson- 
age was also built. May be in these troublous times 
the congregation was not as orderly as it might be. 
The tything men were instructed to see that persons 
took their seats immediately on entering the Gallery. 
One of the most important occurrences of Mr. Thayer's 
ministry was the change of hymn-books. Up to this 
time the book used was the Bay State Psalm Book as 
improved by Henry Dunster, First President of Har- 
vard College, in conjunction with Richard Lyon. It 



19 

was voted at town meeting, January 17, 1772, — "To 
exchange Dunster's Version of Psalms for Doctr 
Wattses Psalms & Hymns." It seems to us strange to 
read in the records of town-meetings votes authorising 
the singing of new tunes in church service,, giving 
minute instructions as to singing, and fixing the length 
of intermission between the services. The town inter- 
fered in ecclesiastical matters further than was profitable 
for either town or church. That discipline was not 
neglected is apparent from votes of the church appoint- 
ing committees to assist the pastor in this matter. Mr. 
Thayer preached on Sabbath, and died next day, No- 
vember 6, 1792. The town paid his funeral expenses, 
and gave a gratuity to his widow. He was a man of 
singular purity of life and singleness of purpose ; yield- 
ing, and yet manly; a lover of peace, without any sacri- 
fice of dignity. In his letter, on the falling off of salary 
caused by the depreciation of the currency, recorded in 
the Town Records, he manfully asserts his rights, and 
yet cheerfully waives these rights in the interests of 
Christian peace and unity. And in justice to the peo- 
ple it must be said that they honestly attempted by 
additions to his salar}^ to make good whatever of loss 
there was from depreciation of the currency. Leaning 
on a summer afternoon against his tombstone in yonder 
cemetery, the most conspicuous monument there, the 
eye wanders with pleasure over the intermingling of 
green field and grateful forest, while to the ear comes 
the faintest hint of the vast ocean. Lovelier by far the 
character of him whose mortal remains sleep in that 
grave ; and the whispers of what he was and what he 
did for this church should come to our ears now, even 
as the ocean ever utters its voice beneath the din of day 
and during the silence of night. 

After Mr. Thayer's death an unfortunate division 
rent the church. As far back as 1712 we find Presby- 



20 

terlan tendencies. They now come to the surface. 
After unsuccessful attempts to settle Nathaniel Thayer, 
Daniel Dana, and Jonathan Brown, the town voted at a 
meeting held October 19, 1795, "to give Mr. William 
Pidgin . a call to settle in this town according to the 
Presbyterian form of church government." The vote 
stood: 63 for, 20 against. As the town could not, ac- 
cording to Congregational usage, settle a minister with- 
out the consent of the church, and as a vote for the call 
of Mr. Pidgin was negatived by the church, this was a 
necessary step, if he was to become the minister of 
Hampton. The church held a meeting on the same 
day, and adjourned to the 27th, when it was voted, — 
"'*' Not to give Mr. William Pidgin a call to settle with 
us." Mr. Pidgin addresses his acceptance of the call 
" To the Presbyterian Church & Society in Hampton." 
At a church meeting held January, 1797, a unanimous 
call was voted to Jesse Appleton, who was ordained 
February 22. Then began the angry controversy and 
lawsuits, into the history of which I have not time to 
enter. A sad cloud rests on Mr. Pidgin's character. 
Under the wise and judicious leadership of their talented 
pastor the Congregational Society prospered. Being 
ousted from the old meeting-house, they built a new 
meeting-house in 1797, (our present town-house) and 
dedicated it November 14th of that year. On Novem- 
ber 10, 1807, Mr. Appleton was dismissed to assume the 
Presidency of Bowdoin College; and the old difificulty 
seemed healed, only to break out in another shape. 

The Presbyterians returned to the old church, and 
the reunited church used the new meeting-house. Rev. 
Josiah Webster was installed pastor June 8, 1808. The 
town voted him a salary of $^525, and the use of " the 
house parsonage." Mr. Webster was as upright in 
character as in person ; scorning to do anything mean 
or dishonorable ; an untiring worker in all moral and 



21 

religious reform; a diligent pastor and able preacher; 
earnest in revival work ; treating opponents with manly 
frankness and Christian courtesy; maintaining his own 
opinions without regard to consequences, and giving re- 
spectful attention to the opinions of others. He was a 
leader in the Temperance movement when it cost some- 
thing to be a Temperance worker. By vote of the 
church October 4, 1835, the use of ardent spirits was 
prohibited to church members. There was but one 
vote in the negative. The first Sunday-School was 
organized during his pastorate in 18 18, and three years 
later the first Sunday-School Library was introduced. 

On March 31, 1825, the present articles of faith and 
covenant was adopted, — " former attempts to adopt arti- 
cles having failed ; but " as the record reads, " God has# 
produced a mighty change within the last 17 years." 

In 1808 it was voted to tear down the old meeting- 
house on the Green, and sell the lots at public auction. 

Stoves were introduced by a vote of the town in 
1 82 1. The stove was so to be placed "as not to injure 
the meeting-house, or any person who sits therein." 
Our fathers must have been afraid that the thing would 
explode. Mr. Webster was an earnest worker in revival 
efforts; but, strange to say, there was much opposition 
in the church to special efforts and revival work. 
But he persevered in face of opposition, and much 
success attended his labors. We read of a prayer- 
meeting that continued three or four hours. 
There was a marked work of grace in 18 19, and thirty- 
four members were added to the church. In connection 
with this revival Mr. Webster writes : — " A very large 
number, besides those who obtained hope of a new 
heart, seemed convinced that the special influences of 
God's Spirit were sent down upon us, tho' always before 
many of them had denied any such influences." In the 
long and bitter controversy with the Baptist Society 
respecting the ministerial fund, and which resulted in 
the separation of the town from the church, Mr. Web- 
ster never stooped to take an unfair advantage ; and this 



22 

cannot be said of all the parties to this strife. But I do 
not propose to rake up the embers of a scarcely ex- 
tinguished quarrel. At the Nlarch town-meeting, 1835, 
it was voted, — " That Mr. Webster be no longer min- 
ister of the town, and that the Ministerial funds be di- 
vided." To this vote the selectmen of the Congrega- 
tional Society objected. The controversy was sub- 
stantially settled by a division of the fund (I cannot say, 
an equitable division) among the three Societies in 1836; 
though the echoes of the strife lingered about three 
years longer. In 1844 the old meeting-house became 
the town-house. Mr. Webster died March 27, 1837. 
During his ministry one hundred and seventy members 
were admitted to the church. In yonder cemetery a 
granite shaft fitly symbolises the strong and upright 
character of him whose dust rests beneath. 

I can merely glance at his successors, confining 
myself to the installed pastors. Erasmus D. Eldridge 
was called to the pastorate in 1838, and dismissed be- 
cause of failing health in 1849. During his ministry 
the building we now occupy was built. Under his 
faithful labors one hundred and fourteen members were 
received on profession of faith. His successor, Rev. 
Solomon P. Fay, was ordained in 1849. The church 
was then on a sea of troubles ; but this skilful pilot at 
the helm brought her safely through. At this critical 
period of her history it was well for the church that 
there stood in her pulpit one who was so able a preacher, 
and so wise and judicious a pastor. Mr. Fay was dis- 
missed August 29, 1854. Rev. John Colby became 
pastor of the church in October, 1855, and was dis- 
missed in November, 1863. The church grew spiritually 
under his zealous ministry ; and in the troubles that 
arose his voice always was for peace. The church- 
meeting held June 27, 1864, which remained in session 
until 2 o'clock in the morning, must have been very in- 
L.ofC. 



teresting or — very stormy. The next settled pastor, 
Rev. John W. Dodge, was installed October 19, 1865, 
and dismissed November 18, 1868. His labors here 
were abundantly blessed, and many members were added 
to the church. After being about a year acting pastor. 
Rev. James McLean was installed December 15, 1870; 
and was dismissed after a short, somewhat troubled, 
but on the whole successful, pastorate of one year. 
During this time a new hymn-book, " The Tribute of 
Praise," was introduced. I think a better might easily 
have been selected. To-day we lay it aside, and intro- 
duce !' Spiritual Songs." The next pastor of this church. 
Rev. Walcott W. Fay, was ordained February 20, 1884, 
and dismissed November 16, 1886. The unbroken 
harmony of the church and frequent additions to its 
membership during this short pastorate testify to the 
successful labors of this young, energetic, and talented 
minister, whose worth the churches are now finding out. 
This brings the history of the church down to the 
present time. It has now 136 resident members; 49 
males, and 8y females. The little sapling has grown to 
be a great tree. The little congregation, that met in 
the rude log meeting-house two hundred and fifty years 
ago, has continued its unbroken history, the oldest 
church in New Hampshire, down to this year of grace, 
1888. Many changes have taken place. The pine for- 
ests of Winnicunett have been cut down. The Indian 
wigwam has vanished. Productive farms and comfort- 
able homes have displaced the wilderness. The old 
landmarks are disappearing. Meeting-houses have been 
built, and taken down, and rebuilt. Creeds have changed ; 
and new modes of worship crowded out the old. But 
the church remains the same, because her foundation is 
He who is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. She 
still holds to the same truths, and worships the same 
God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Her Bible is the 



24 

same, and her essential faith the same. She has written 
the epitaphs on the old tomb-stones in yonder ancient 
cemetery; she speaks the same words of hope by dying- 
beds to-day. Now, as then, at marriage feasts she 
chanoes the water of common mercies into the wine of 
heavenly blessings ; and writes over the gates of the 
cemetery not, " We are all passing away ;" but, " I am 
the resurrection and the life." Yes, as out yonder, in 
the calm and the storm ; when in the still moonlight the 
waves flash and gem the rocks with silvery spangles, and 
when the fog creeps over the sea and hides the treach- 
erous rocks ; w^hen the stars listen to ocean's gentle 
murmur, and when the loud voiee of the angry billows 
startle the darkened heavens, — the light from White 
Island flashes over the sea, and safely guides the ship on 
its course; so in the calm and the tempest — when 
peace and happiness bless the life, and when the stress 
and storm of trial and temptation beat upon it, this 
church has been the lighthouse, sending its unquenched 
rays across the waters and through the darkness, safely 
guiding on his way every voyager to yon eternal shore. 

May this old church, w^hich has such a grand his- 
tory behind it, for many centuries to come still point 
the way to heaven. May the succession of able and 
faithful ministers who have stood in its pulpit, be con- 
tinued for more than two hundred and fifty years in the 
future. When the congregation, that now assembles 
within the walls of its meeting-house, are sleeping in 
yonder cemetery may it still send to heaven the voice of 
prayer and praise, and from its pulpit still be broken 
the bread of life to hungry multitudes. May it still at 
marriage feasts change the water into wine, and carry 
the ministrations of the blessed gospel of Christ to the 
sick and into the homes of the disconsolate. Yes, I will 
add the petition, as at the beginning there was but one 
church in the town, and ever)^ Christian found a con- 

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2 K 

genial home within its pale, and fit food for his soul 
hunger in its ministrations; so may this venerable 
church broaden its creed, and diversify its modes of 
worship, and present the gospel simply as the Master 
taught it, that again every disciple of Christ in the place 
shall be assured of a welcome to its ordinances, find a 
sweet resting-place in its communion, be fed by the pure 
bread of life broken in its pulpit, and strengthened and 
guided on his way heavenward by the Christ-like charity 
of its members and the Christly worship of its services. 
May it be, not as " the great red star " that at every 
sunset flashes from White Island, but as the immortal 
star looking down from the wide heaven, and sending its 
light across the path of many generations. 



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